Hexamethylenetetramine ((CH.sub.2).sub.6 N.sub.4), otherwise known as hexamine has multiple uses. For example, it is useful in curing phenolfomaldehyde and resorcinolformaldehyde resins, as a rubber to textile adhesive, as a protein modifier, as an ingredient of high explosive cyclonite, as fuel tablets, as a rubber accelerator, as a fungicide, as a corrosion inhibitor, as a shrink-proofing agent for textiles, and as an antibacterial agent. In addition, hexamine also has applications in organic synthesis and pharmaceutical compositions.
Hexamine is produced by reacting ammonia and formaldehyde. The reaction produces hexamine as a precipitate in water. The hexamine precipitate is then removed from solution and sold in crystalline form. Typically, the water is extracted by vacuum evaporation, condensed and collected, forming hexamine waste water. This waste water typically contains residual amounts of the reactants (i.e., ammonia and formaldehyde) as well as residual amounts of hexamine dissolved in solution, and must be chemically treated to remove these organic wastes before it can be reused internally.
Effective treatment of hexamine waste water has been a problem for hexamine producers. Currently, there is no known method of treating hexamine waste water to remove all organic waste constituents. Conventional organic waste treatments are ineffective for removing hexamine from solution. For example, it is known in the industry that hexamine is resistant to biological degradation, and therefore biological treatment methods are typically ineffective in the treatment of hexamine waste water. Moreover, the presence of hexamine in solution typically inhibits the removal of the other organic wastes by known methods.
For all of the forgoing reasons, it would be highly desirable to provide a method and apparatus for effectively and efficiently treating hexamine waste water.